Friday, February 07, 2014

Multisyllabic in-line rhymes

There's something really beautiful about in-line rhymes, by which I mean two- or three-syllable rhymes that do not coincide with the natural pause in speaking at the end of a phrase or sentence.

I was just noticing it today with "Tears of a Clown":  "Don't let my show convince you /that I've been happy since you  /decided to go." The music signals a break as marked, but the meaning propels us past the rhyming words in one continuous unit.

The best (most sustained and exuberant) example I know is JRRT's "Errantry" poem, which exists in several versions. Here's a snippet:
He caught her in bewilderment
with filament of spider-thread;
he made her soft pavilions
of lilies, and a bridal bed
of flowers and of thistle-down
to nestle down and rest her in;
and silken webs of filmy white
and silver light he dressed her in.
(Of course one of my all-time favorite rhymes is tchotchkes with watch, please. But that's more conventionally placed in the line so it doesn't count here.)

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